Going To Church

The 2009 major league baseball season opens on Monday, April 6, and I can hardly wait. I really enjoy baseball, particularly watching the New York Yankees play. I was born in the Bronx (named after Jonas Bronc, a Dane who was the first to settle the area in 1641. As an added bit of lagniappe, the Bronx is called "the" Bronx after the river which runs through its center), and the baseball team of my heart has always been the Yankees. But, I find going to baseball games today very distracting. It seems there are a whole bunch of activities that go on before and after the game, and in between innings, which detract from watching and enjoying the game. Today, I think more people attend a baseball game for the "experience," whatever that may mean, than for the purpose of seeing their team play and cheering them on to victory.

I also think the same attitude of seeking the "experience" is now dominating our Sundays. People often say that they are going to church. What does that mean? In my discussions with people I find they often mean, among other things:

• I am going to hear God's Word preached.
• I am going to hear our wonderful pastor preach.
• I am going to hear about Jesus and learn about Him.
• I am going to hear how Jesus wants me to live my life.

But, is this really what going to church is all about? Even if we accept the phrase "going to church," it has no meaning in itself which would lead us to a perception of what occurs after our car pulls into the parking lot. There, I went to church. Perhaps we ought to stop using this phrase of "going to church" and adopt one more biblical. I am going to worship God, the God of the Bible, and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit.

I admit, it is a mouthful. But, I like it because this is exactly what we are called to do. God saves men by grace through faith in Jesus Christ so that they will become true worshippers of Himself (see John 4:23-24). So, what we call our Sunday activity has a direct bearing on our attitude when we enter worship.

Then, what is worship? Several years ago I attended a class on Reformed Worship taught by Dr. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr., at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I prefer the definition of covenantal worship, as distinguished from "contemporary" or "traditional" worship, which he provides:

"Covenantal worship is service offered to God as Father through a mediator,in dependence on the Holy Spirit, in response to the grace of God revealed in the gospel that consists of adoration, communion, and edification."

You can see this is a far different understanding of worship than that of most people who say they are going to church. Therefore, just how important is worship to God and to us? In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin writes, "Surely the first foundation of righteousness is the worship of God" (II, 8, 11). Consider also the following quote of John Calvin from his work the Necessity of Reforming the Church,

"If it be inquired, then, by what things chiefly the Christian religion has a standing existence amongst us and maintains its truth, it will be found that the following two not only occupy the principal place, but comprehend under them allthe other parts, and consequently the whole substance of Christianity, viz., a knowledge, first, of the mode in which God is duly worshipped; and, secondly of the source from which salvation is to be obtained" (p.4).

So then, what will you do tomorrow? Will you go to church? Or, will you join us in worshipping God?